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It's not a secret. Any team that can control the Nose on both sides of the ball will win a lot of games. Period. McClendon is too easily moved side-to-side. Hampton was an immovable object, even against double teams.

Do the Steelers have a true Nose tackle on the roster?... I'm not sure.

On the other side of the ball, a center that can push the NT out of the way like a D Dawson or J Hartwig is what they have been lacking. So there are no surprises with the current line play.

So why stick with a defense you don't have the players to execute properly and when it is extremely difficult to find that dominant NT it requires unlikely you will be able to? Thats just been the point I've been making. The defense as LeBeau executes it is too hard to replenish the talent. We are seeing that come home to roost this season.

Woodley has played well true. But the article does not paint the whole picture. Part of the reason Woodley gets pressure on a higher percent of his pass rushes is PRECISELY because teams dont know if he is rushing. You KNOW Mario Williams is coming nearly every pass play, so he has to beat a tackle and perhaps backfield help EVERY TIME he rushes a passer. While Woodley takes on tackles too I have seen Woodley many time have nothing but a running back in his way to a QB

Woodley has played well true. But the article does not paint the whole picture. Part of the reason Woodley gets pressure on a higher percent of his pass rushes is PRECISELY because teams dont know if he is rushing. You KNOW Mario Williams is coming nearly every pass play, so he has to beat a tackle and perhaps backfield help EVERY TIME he rushes a passer. While Woodley takes on tackles too I have seen Woodley many time have nothing but a running back in his way to a QB

I don't think this is necessarily true. When a team studies the Steelers they know what formations are going to bring Woodley or Worilds. Naturally teams are going to run formations that limit WOODLEY in a pass rush and put him into pass coverage. In obvious pass situations, Woodley is going to line up as a pass rusher as a DE.

Well, I'm no statistician. Woodley's a very good pass rusher when the opponent doesn't know he's coming. But otherwise, from what I see, mediocre tackles don't have too much problem handling him. And he's nowhere near as good as Harrison was against the run.

it's crazy... our best pass rusher is rushing less than every other OLB. smh...

That's too simplistic. The fact is, that part of Woodley's pass-rush success rate, is predicated on the unpredictability with which he rushes. I guarantee you that: a) he would be rushed much more often, if he could whip more people straight-up (e.g. Aldon Smith would be coming almost every down, if we had him). And b) if we did rush him a lot more often, the element of surprise with which guys like him rely upon, would be taken away, thereby lowering his productivity.

I'm not trying to say that he's playing badly. (I've been very critical of him the past few years.) And I've focused on him at points during games, and I definitely see the effort. He's playing good, solid football (a change from year's past.) But to compare his performance to Harrison's DMVP year... is pretty funny.

So why stick with a defense you don't have the players to execute properly and when it is extremely difficult to find that dominant NT it requires unlikely you will be able to? Thats just been the point I've been making. The defense as LeBeau executes it is too hard to replenish the talent. We are seeing that come home to roost this season.

It's difficult to replace dominant players and top end talent in any defense. Stop making it about the scheme.

Meh.... The Steelers have 13 sacks. Only the Giants and Jags are worse in the entire NFL. The Steelers pass rush is pathetically bad. As a point of reference, The Browns have 31 (2nd in the league). Woodley's percentage of generating pressure doesn't mean a thing when the entire team sucks balls at getting to the QB. Congratulations Woodley, you're the tallest dwarf....

The amazing Woodley is on pace for a whopping 32 solo tackles this season. I realize the OLB's are not meant to get the bulk of the tackles in the 3-4, but last season, Harrison had 49 in 13 games (and he was playing with a bad back).

And I didn't see New England treating LaMarr like some great pass-rushing threat. How many times did they double-team him? Not many. Maybe twice the entire game. Why didn't they double-team him more? Answer--they didn't need to.